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Posted on: March 5, 2019

City Council considers ordinance amendments to pave way for legalized medical marijuana

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

City Council considered proposed changes of the City’s Zoning Ordinance, initiating discussion for regulated use of medical marijuana at a Council lunch workshop Tuesday, March 5, 2019. Missouri voters approved Amendment 2 to the Missouri Constitution on Nov. 6, 2018 – a measure that allows regulated use, including the cultivation, testing, manufacturing and sale.

The amendment also establishes a schedule for implementation that includes Aug. 3, 2019 as the first date to make application for a state license to operate a medical marijuana facility. Because applicants for a state license will need to include a specific location in their applications, the City of Springfield needs to identify those zoning districts where the specific use will be permitted.

Springfield’s Director of Planning and Development, Mary Lilly Smith, proposed local Zoning Ordinance amendments to identify the zoning districts where such uses will be permitted and under what conditions. Separate public hearings will be scheduled at a later date at both the Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council.

“Medical use” means the production, possession, delivery, distribution, transportation or administration of marijuana or marijuana-infused product or drug paraphernalia used to administer marijuana or marijuana-infused product, for the benefit of a qualifying patient to mitigate the symptoms or effects of the patient’s qualifying medical condition. “Qualifying patient” means a Missouri resident diagnosed with at least one qualifying medical condition. All medical marijuana sold in Missouri must be cultivated and manufactured in Missouri.

Must have a 1,000-feet separation from elementary and secondary schools, child day-care centers and churches.

A conditional use permit required if facility is adjacent to, or across from, a residential zoning district.

• Medical Marijuana Testing facilities are certified by the State to acquire, test, certify and transport marijuana. No testing facility shall be owned by an entity under substantially common control, ownership or management as other medical marijuana facilities.

Must have a 1,000-feet separation from elementary and secondary schools, child day-care centers and churches.

• Medical Marijuana-infused Manufacturing facilities are licensed by the State to acquire, store, manufacture, transport and sell marijuana-infused products to a Medical Marijuana Dispensary Facility, a Medical Marijuana Testing Facility or to another Medical Marijuana-Infused Products Manufacturing facility. Marijuana-infused products are infused with marijuana or an extract thereof and are intended for use or consumption other than by smoking. This is including, but not limited to: edible products, ointments, tinctures and concentrates. This includes both the extraction process and production of edibles, ointments, etc.

No more than three marijuana-infused products’ manufacturing licenses shall be issued to any entity under substantially common control, ownership or management.

• Medical Marijuana Post-Extraction Facilities are bakeries, confectionaries, and producers of ointments, etc. Staff would evaluate as if non-marijuana use to determine if retail sales use group* or industrial/wholesale activity applies, based on scope and volume of production, facility capacity and primary customer.

• Medical Marijuana Dispensary facilities are licensed by the State to acquire, store, sell, transport and deliver marijuana, marijuana-infused products and drug paraphernalia to administer marijuana as provided for in the section as a “qualifying patient”, a primary caregiver, another medical marijuana dispensary facility, a medical marijuana testing facility, or to a medical marijuana-infused products manufacturing facility.

No more than three medical marijuana dispensary licenses shall be issued to any entity under substantially common control, ownership or management.

Must have a 200-foot separation from elementary and secondary schools, child daycare centers and churches.

Regulatory flexibility

Unless allowed by the local government, no new medical marijuana facility “shall be initially sited within 1,000 feet of any then-existing elementary or secondary school, child day-care center or church.”

No local government shall prohibit medical marijuana facilities or entities with a transportation certification “either expressly or through the enactment of ordinances or regulations that make their operation unduly burdensome.”

Local governments “may enact ordinances or regulations not in conflict with this section, or with regulations enacted pursuant to this section, governing the time, place and manner of operation of such facilities in the locality.”